Afghanistan: Time to Get Out

For a long time already we have advocated a withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan. The war is costing $2 billion a month and is leading to unnecessary loss of lives.

The US had the right to invade the country in 2001 after the Taliban refused to give over Osama Bin Laden. Since then the country has turned into more and more of a mess. We originally wanted to oust the Taliban and now we are in negotiations for the Taliban to return to power.

The latest incident in Afghanistan highlights further the need to leave the country. According to reports the burning of the Koran was an accident but resulted in protests worldwide. 30 people have died in the ensuing protests and two US servicemen were shot by an Afghan policeman.

We can stay there for one year, 10 years or forever and it likely would in fact make things worse.

According to recent polling, 92% of men do not know what 9/11 is. This means that the population sees us as occupiers. The longer we stay the more we will be viewed in this manner.

The country will likely descend into further chaos as we leave but as the war in Libya has (hopefully shown), we are not meant to be the policemen of the world. President Obama hailed the success of taking out Qaddafi, but the country is now a complete mess to say the least.

The British and Russians tried to control Afghanistan before finally realizing how difficult it was to control due to the terrain and diverse ethnic groups. Hopefully our people will realize that the same is true and leave before more people are killed.